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Material: kayak restoration
By:Mark branston
Date: 5/13/2008, 6:03 pm

I have just bought a couple of old fiberglass kayaks with a view to resoring them, but am not sure of the best way to achieve this. Any comments would help.
Basically the 14ft kayak is a fibreglass construction with a shiney blue coating - I assume this is a coloured gelcoat? The kayak has loads of scratches, a couple of holes and minor dings and lots of colour fading.
I was assuming the best approach was to sand the whole thing, almost back to fiberglass - I was then going to refiberglass areas where required until the kayak looked stable - does this sound correct?
The next step I am not sure of, can I re gelcoat the whole lot? Or can I just prime and spray paint? I obviously want a nice looking smooth surface, but when I search the Internet, gelcoating seems to only be mentioned for fixing small areas. Also, if I painted, I don't see how I could get the service smooth.
Where am I going wrong!! Any pointers? Am very keen but lacking the knowledge!

Messages In This Thread

Material: kayak restoration
Mark branston -- 5/13/2008, 6:03 pm
Re: Material: kayak restoration
Bill Hamm -- 5/14/2008, 12:51 am